Help me encourage a young animal artist!

I’d like to thank everyone who has supported and encouraged me since I started this blog as well as my facebook page by paying it forward.  

This is back to school time for many budding animal and wildife artists. I’ve been fortunate to have one of my drawings featured in North Light Read more >

Pen & Ink Wildlife Illustration – adding colour

I’ve been a fan of pen and ink illustration ever since I can remember. Starting with classic children’s book illustrations by artists such as Arthur Rackham to scientific illustrations to technical drawings, they all hold a special appeal. These robin fledglings with their serious little Read more >

Wildlife Art – Realistic Graphite Pencil Drawing – The Lake

Realism, wildlife art and composition. All of these more often than not begin with habitat. In my blog where I discussed my thoughts behind my Great Horned Owl drawing, I wrote <Sometimes though a subject’s beauty calls for it to stand alone, with just a suggestion of habitat if at all>. Read more >

Wildlife Art – Realistic Graphite Pencil Drawing – Dance for Joy – Chinese Goose

Dance for Joy holds a special place in my heart. In previous posts we have covered compositions based on mood, based on a careful study of habitat and natural history, compositions that are completely fictional but quite plausible for that species, and portraits which rely on the beauty of the subject. Read more >

Wildlife Art – Realistic Graphite Pencil Drawing – Great Horned Owl

Often when we think of compositions for our wildlife art subjects, we naturally associate the subject with a certain habitat. I once read that wildlife art is actually landscape art that just happens to have an animal subject in it! Sometimes though a subject’s beauty calls for it to stand alone, Read more >

Wildlife Art – Realistic Graphite Pencil Drawing – Blue Phase Snow Goose

Often when we strive to depict realism in wildlife art we can be surprised by the result because of the seemingly endless variety of creatures and habitats in our natural world. Sometimes the challenge is to depict a scene that is ephemeral but completely within the realm of possibilities. That is Read more >

Wildlife Art – Realistic Graphite Pencil Drawing – Red-Tailed Hawk couple

Any attempt at realistic wildlife art requires careful study of anatomy and textures such as feather, fur and scales especially in the case of portrait art, but it also requires a study of natural history if the subject is to fit believably in its environment. In other words, it must tell a story Read more >

Wildlife Art – Realistic Graphite Pencil Drawing of Mallard

The reason I strive to produce realistic graphite pencil drawings of wildlife to the best of my ability is a selfish one. It feeds my endless fascination with the sheer beauty of wildlife, and that includes the humblest of species that surround us every day. Today I’d like to talk a little about Read more >

Artwork Portfolio Video – Wildlife Art

I thought that the best way to present my portfolio would be in a short video, so here we go!

These are some of my favourite pieces, and I’ll be discussing some of them individually in later blogs. In some cases landscape was the inspiration for which animal to use, and in other cases a personal Read more >

I am a Canadian wildlife artist who uses graphite, pen and ink and mixed media to create my wildlife art. 

I’ve been featuring artists I admire on my new facebook page and I thought it was high time I introduced myself, Laurene Spino, a Canadian wildlife artist working in graphite, pen and ink Read more >